Effects of curcumin on proliferation and apoptosis of human cervical carcinoma HeLa cells in vitro

Objective: To investigate the regulatory effect of curcumin on proliferation and apoptosis in human cervical carcinoma cell line HeLa in vitro . Methods: Human cervical carcinoma cell line Hela was cultured in vitro . HeLa cells were treated with 10–50 µmol/L curcumin for 24–72 h and the growth inhibition rates of HeLa cells were measured by MTT method. Cell apoptosis was inspected by electron microscopy. In addition, the expression of bcl-2, bcl-xl and caspase-3 protein in HeLa cell were observed by SP immunohistochemistry. Results: Curcumin inhibited the proliferation of HeLa cells on a dose-depending manner. Peak of subG1 appeared on DNA histogram in FCM. A portion of the cells presented the characteristic morphological changes of apoptosis under the electron microscope. The bcl-2, bcl-xl expression was decreased while Caspase-3 expression was increased. Conclusion: Curcumin could significantly inhibit the growth of HeLa cells; inducing apoptosis through up-regulating Caspase-3 and down-regulating expression of bcl-2 and bcl-xl was probably one of its molecular mechanisms.